Apparatus for disintegrating and dewatering fibrous material



June 15, 1965 K. WANDEL APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING AND DEWATERINGFIBROUS MATERIAL Original Filed March 22, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 4Ill'llll .I/Ifl/Ill/l/l rlllll/ll/llIII/l/IIIIII/lllll/ INVEN TOR. KURTWAN DEL ATTORNEYS June 15, 1965 K. WANDEL 3,188,942

APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING AND DEWATERING FIBROUS MATERIAL OriginalFiled March 22, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. KURT WANDEL BY Z WWA 6M,

ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofiice 3,188,942 Patented June 15, 19653,188,942 APPARATUS FOR DISINTEGRATING AND DEWATERHNG FIBROUS MATERIALKurt Wandel, Downingtown, Pa, assignor to Somat Corporation,Coatesville, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Continuation of applicationSer. No. 417,729, Mar. 22, 1954. This application Dec. 5, 1962, Ser. No.244,541

' 9 Claims. (Cl. 10072) This invention relates to improvements inapparatus for disintegrating and dewatering fibrous material such asWaste paper and the like, and more particularly constitutes animprovement on the apparatus described and claimed in my Patent No.2,729,145 granted January 3, 1956, on an application co-pending withapplication Serial Number 417,729 filed March 22, 1954 (now abandoned),of which this application is a continuation.

The machine constituting the subject matter of my prior patent isparticularly designed for the destruction of confidential documents butis equally useful for disposing of the various kinds of discarded paperwhich in the usual routine of business is periodically collected anddestroyed. With my improved apparatus as described herein, thedisintegration and dewatering of waste paper may be carried outcontinuously as a single operation, thereby greatly increasing thecapacity of the machine and reducing the labor involved.

My improved machine is also particularly designed to carry out themethod of garbage disposal described and claimed in my Patent No.2,699,629, issued January 18, 1955. By the use of my improved apparatus,the unscreened garbage and rubbish is continuously reduced to a fairlydry fibrous mass which is inodorous and no longer subject toputrefaction, which may be used im mediately as a fertilizer or storedfor long periods with out significant loss of plant food value; Myimproved apparatus serves also to screen out of the garbage and wastepaper solid articles not subject to disintegration,

' such as wood, string, wire, rags, tin cans and the like, and

to retain such articles for a long period without injury to the machineor interference with its efficient operation, whereby an occasional shutdown of the machine for a brief period to dump the accumulated metal andother articles which have resisted disintegration is all the at tentionthat is required other than feeding the waste paper, garbage, etc. tothe machine, and removing the disintegrated and dewatered mass which maybe fed directly into burlap bags such as now used for various kinds ofprepared fertilizers or may be stored in bulk form for bacterial actionand conversion into humus or organic fertilizer. The pulp generated bythis apparatus from cellulosic material, for example, waste paper, is ina new form. The cellulosic fibers are in small lumps which are looseupon each other, crumble readily and are dry enough to be handled byordinary conveying equipment such as used for grain and the like. Thepulp may be conveyed into and stored in silos whereas in the case offibersto be used in paper making it may be left not only for tonnagestorage but for a period of bleaching action.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated my improved apparatus inthe form in which it is now designed for the destruction of waste paperand the disposal of garbage.

In said drawings: FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional view on a planeextending diametrically through the axis of the disintegrator l and 2, 1indicates the tank or shell into which the material to be disintegratedis dumped. This shell is preferably mounted on its frame 2:1 with itsvertical axis inclined to the vertical at an angle of approximately 15.Mounted in a suitable bearing in the bottom wall of the vessel 1 is ashaft 2 of a driving motor -3 by means of which the impeller 4 iscontinuously rotated at the desired speed of approximately 1500 rpm. Therotor employed is of the form disclosed in my above-mentioned Patent No.2,729,145 that is to say, it comprises a concave steel disk of adiameter about equal to the radius of the vessel 1. It is attached tothe end of the driving shaft 2 with its concave face uppermost, andfirmly embedded in the face of the impeller, particularly around the rimthereof, are discrete particles of tungsten carbide, all as describedand claimed in my Patent No. 2,641,165, dated June 9, 1953.

The machines disclosed in my prior patent and patent applications aredesigned for carrying out batch processes. That is to say, the machineis charged with the desired quantity of material to be disintegrated,the necessary water is added and the machine started and continued inoperation until the disintegration is effected. The disintegrated massis discharged then and the operation repeated. In order to adapt themachine for continuous operation, the tank 1 is provided with a doublebottom, which may be conveniently accomplished by adding to thefiatabottomed tank an inner concave partition member 6 which is weldedaround its rim 7 to the wall of the tank 1 and at its center is providedwith a downwardly extending perforated sleeve 8 surrounding the impellerand extending to the bottom Wall of the casing. The perforated sleeve 8serves as a sieve to retain in the vessel 1 and in contact with theimpeller the partially disintegrated masses of material until they aresufficiently reduced to pass through the holes of the sieve. In order tocontinue the disintegration of material which is drawn beneath theimpeller but is still of a size too large to pass through theperforations of the sleeve 8, the under face of the impeller, that is,its convex face, is also studded with tungsten carbide crystals, asshown at 11a.

In order to dewater the suspension of disintegrated fibers after theypass through the sleeve 8, I provide a dewatering attachment, indicatedgenerally by the numeral 10, which is preferably bolted or otherwiseattached to the side wall of the vessel 1, as shown more particularly inFIG. 2. This dewatering attachment comprises a casing 11 having a baseportion which is open at one side and provided with a flange 12 forattachment to a similar flange formed on the side Wall of the vessel 1which is lowermost when the vessel is set in the inclined position inwhich it is mounted on the frame. The thus connected extensions of thetank and dewatering unit provide an open passage from the space of thetank 1 surrounding the sieve *8 into the casing 11 of the dewateringunit 19 whereby the water with the disintegrated fiber in suspension asdischarged through the holes of the part 8 flows by gravity aided by thecentrifugal pressure exercised by the impeller 4 into the space at thebottom of the casing 11.

Axially mounted in the cylindrical portion of the casing 11 of thedewatering unit is a lifting screw 15 of the character commonly employedin screw conveyors. The bottom edge of the spiral vane 16 which formsthe screw lies in the plane of the top wall of the passage into thedewatering unit so that the screw serves to continuously lift the watersuspension as it rises in the dewatering unit upwardly when the screw isrotated in the direction indicated by the arrows in the drawing.Surrounding the screw within the casing 11 is a perforated metal sleeve17 of a size sufficiently larger than the diameter of the screw topermit free rotation of the screw therein. The sleeve by a pinion 26 onof the casing 11 is closed by an annular water-tight partition 4s, asshown in FIG. 1.

Any suitable means may be employed'for driving the several parts of theapparatus. lnwthe particular model.

shown in the drawings, the shaft 10a of the elevating screw is providedwith a driving gear 25 which is driven the hub of a pulley 27 whichinturn is driven from the shaft of the driving motor 3 by a belt 28. Thespeed of rotation of thescrew is somewhat in proportion to its diameter,the smaller diametersoperating at 60 to 70 r.p.m. with the largerunits'reduced to the order of 40 rpm. Any other suitable drivingmechanism may-be substituted if desired. The pump 30 which serves tocontinuously recirculate: the water extracted from the suspensionzmayalso'be driven from the main driving motor if desired, but forconvenience of assem bly I prefer to use a centrifugal pump providedwith its own'driving motor,-as shown. a

The elevating screw terminates several inches below the top of thecasing 11 and its shaft is provided at its. upper end with an extension31 of enlarged diameter,

the tank 1. The] Y of the screen 17' and hence by varying the thicknessof the wad Wthe resistance to movement of the wad can be varied,- thusincreasing or'decreasing the pressure to 1 which the increments ofmaterial compressed against the bottom of the Wad are subjectedto'express the additional liquid. i

I have found that While. it is difficult to express water from anaqueous suspension of disintegrated fiber against a perforated orscreened surfacewithout considerable loss of fiber and without'cloggingthe' screen, additional water passing through may be readilysqueezed out of such fibers by the struc- 'ture shown wherein theexpressed liquid may drop off of the under face of the mass of materialby gravity. The water thus squeezed out of the increments of fiberspressed against the wad bythe rotation of the conveyor drainsjaway .fromthemass merely by gravity, so that the contained fibrous matter will becaught by the screen and continuously fed upward by the, conveyor, thewater 'he screen into the casing, 11'whence it is returned to the vessel1by the pump 30. In the practical operation-of the apparatusillustrated, from 50 to 90% (according to t "e natur-e of the'mate'rial)of the water content, of the-suspension as it leavesthe tank 1 isremoved'and returned to the tank 1. e

which extension projects above the casing 11 andcarriesi at its upperend a pair of oppositely projecting radial blades 32 which serve tocontinuously break up the as 'cending 'dewatered fibrous material sothat it will flow by gravity into the discharge chute 33, whence it maypass directly into bags or other receptacles or onto a dischargeconveyor if the dewatered material isto be further-handled in bulk. f

The shaft of the elevating screw is preferably made of two sectionsproviding for slight lateral movement of the elevating screw withrespect to the driving portion of the shaft. This may be accomplished byproviding, as illustrated at in FIG. 6, a squared extension on the endof the driving shaft projecting into a similarly-shaped but slightlylarger recess in-the end of the shaft of the elevating screw. Thisslight lost motion isdesirable to permit the elevating screw to fioatshell so that it will rest of its own weight against the inner face ofthesleeve at .the right side of the. sleeve, as shown in FIG. 1.

The greater portion of thejwater removed from the suspension passesthrough the perforated sleeve along this lower side of the sleeve and bypermitting the screw to rest against the sleeve in this fashion a closecontact is provided without danger of binding or causing anysignificantly great-er wear on the faceof the sleeve.

The operation of the device when employed for the treatment of garbagewill now be. described. The gar bage, without sorting, is dischargedintothe tank 1 and water added, the fluid and material being in such amountas to about half fill the tank. 1 andtoprovide a water content of about96%. The machine is then set in operation and for the first severalminutes'the'liquid which flows through the holes in the sieve 8 issubstantially in the perforated free of suspended matter. When the levelof this; liquid rises above the intake of the pump 30 the liquid ispumped back into the tank 1. As the operation proceeds the amount ofsuspended matter in the liquid flowing into the dewatering unitincreases and the amount of. fibrous material accumulates in thedewatering apparatus until there is formed at the top of the screw awador layerof fibrous material against the lower face of which constantadditions. are made by the upward pushing of the screw, This wad offibrous material, shown at W in the drawing, .servesas a porous bedagainst which the elevated material is pressed, thereby expressing fromit liquid in addition to what has drained out'of the mass Aftersufficient material has'been fedinto the tank for 7 of water and solidsof 96% to 4%.

In, FIG. 3 I have shown a modification of the apparatus above'describedto provide adjustment in the resistance to upward movement of the wad ofdewatered fiber at the top of thedeWateringunit. This is desirable topermit a single apparatus to Ibe'adjusted to suit the requirements ofdifferent types and material handled in the apparatus. As shown in FIG.3, this adjustment is accomplished by providing a short sleeve or collar36 of an internal diameter equal to that of the perforated shell 17,which collar is attached to' the upper'end of the dewatering 'column tothereby increase the height of the wad W 0f dewatered material. Severalsleeve sections of varying length may be'provided to give a range ofadjustment. 'Also, theblades 32 at the upper end of the shaft extensionare made axially adjustable by means of a set screw 37 so as to operate'properly with different" lengths of sleeve extensions.

,screwis particularly desirable with'materials where the fiber contentis low, such as garbage of lowpaper content.

A short section of a screw of the character described is shown: in FIG.4. The two vanes 38 and 38a are set at right angles to each other so asto provide equal spacing between the two vanes.

I have also found it an advanta ge in, some instances to increase theperforated areas through which the water may pass out of the garbage orother fibrous material. 0 thisend, as shown in FIG. 5, I may provide alifting screw with two v'anes'39 and 40 spaced closely'together and withthe uppervane perforatedwi'th fine holes preferably of smaller diameterthan those in the sleeve 8.

The two vanes are brought together at'the lower end of theelevatingscrew as shown at 41, so that the water be stifi' enough tolift the layer of material which passes through the perforations in theupper screw from the material as it tends to move relatively to the vanesurface will not flow back into the un-dewatered pulp at the bottom ofthe elevated screw. The water which flows through the perforations inthe upper vane will be comparatively free of fiber and will pass readilythrough the perforations f the sleeve.

In FIG. 7 I have disclosed a further modification of my improved machinewhich is particularly advantageous when the material treated containsfine fibers or colloidal matter which tends to clog the perforations ofthe sleeve 17. As here shown the helical vane of the elevating screw isformed of stiff bristles 42 projecting radially from a channel shapedbase which is wound around the shaft of the screw end welded orotherwise attached thereto. The channel shaped base is clamped againstthe base of the bristles to hold them firmly in place.

The upper end of the screw for about one-half turn is formed of metal asin the previously described structure, as is also the lower portion 44of the screw. The upper portion 43 serves to pack the dewatered materialinto the wad W and push the same upwardly out of the top end of thesleeve and for this purpose the metal blade is preferable. The lowerportion of the screw 44 serves to scrape off the upper face of thedisintegrated mass at the bottom of the sleeve and for this purpose alsothe metal blade is preferable. The mid portion of the vane where thebristles are provided serves without deformation of the bristles toelevate the disintegrated mass and the bristles serve to keep theperforations of the sleeve clean of all accumulated fibrous and solidmatter which might otherwise adhere thereto and clog up theperforations.

The bristles may be stiif natural bristles or may be formed of syntheticmaterials or of metal. They should without bending downward to anysignificant extent. The bristles also serve to allow for the drainage ofWater through the vanes as in the modification shown in FIG. 5.

In the foregoing specification I have described my apparatus as appliedto the treatment of garbage, but it will be understood that theapparatus has equal advantages in the disintegration and dewatering ofwaste paper, whether for the destruction of the documents or forgenerating pulp for the paper industry. The continuous operation of theapparatus with the continuous return of the water or other liquidemployed gives the machine a greater capacity, saves water and alsoproduces a new form of pulp which is dry enough to be handled in bulkand may be supplied directly to the paper machines, thus avoiding theexcessive cost of large tank capacity now required. My improved machinemay also be employed with advantage in all types of industry wheredisintegrating and dewatering steps are required.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for the continuous disintegration and dewatering of fibrousmaterial comprising a disintegrating vessel, a distintegrating impellerin the bottom of said vessel, an outlet passage in a wall of said vesselat the bottom thereof, a dewatering chamber adjacent said vessel havingan inlet opening in a wall thereof forming the end of said outletpassage, said chamber containing means for moving said materialtherethrough and compressing the same, including an elevating screwmounted for rotation in said chamber, a cylinder of foraminous materialsurrounding said screw, a solid wall of said chamber surrounding saidcylinder and spaced therefrom, a watchtight partition between saidcylinder and said wall at the bottom of said cylinder, means forcontinuously rotating said impeller and said elevating screw and meansfor returning water collected between said cylinder and said solid wallto said vessel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a screen is interposed in saidoutlet passage between said vessel and said chamber.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said screen consists of a falsebottom in said vessel, said bottom having a downwardly extendingperforated sleeve surrounding said impeller.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the bottom Wall of said vesselextends beyond said false bottom and said elevating screw is mounted inthe extension of said bottom wall.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein the bottom wall of said vessel is atan angle to the horizontal and extends beyond one side wall of saidvessel at its lower side, said extension forming the bottom of thedewatering chamber.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said elevating screw extendsupwardly alongside said vessel and the solid wall surrounding saidcylinder and said screw is attached to a side wall of said vessel.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the foraminous cylinder extendsbeyond the discharge end of said screw.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the elevating screw consists of ashaft and a helical elevating vane and the shaft of the screw beyond theelevating vane is enlarged.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the elevating screw extends upwardlyfrom the bottom of said chamber at an angle to the vertical.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 305,142 9/84Burckhardt 198-213 X 355,625 1/87 Stevens 162-284 1,083,013 12/13Hettinger -145 X 1,130,149 3/15 Conway 100-145 X 1,488,219 3/24 Shartle241-76 1,529,750 3/25 Plate 198-213 X 1,653,831 12/27 Archidiacano100-145 2,340,009 1/44 Meakin 100-43 2,408,191 9/46 Barnett et al.100-72 2,641,971 6/53 Ellis 241-74 2,970,776 2/61 Buckman 241-46.1

FOREIGN PATENTS 166,527 8/22 Great Britain.

WALTER A. SCHEEL, Primary Examiner, A. G. STONE, Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR THE CONTINUOUS DISINTEGRATION AND DEWATERING OF FIBROUSMATERIAL COMPRISING A DISINTEGRATING VESSEL, A DISINTEGRATING IMPELLERIN THE BOTTOM OF SAID VESSEL, AN OUTLET PASSAGE IN A WALL OF SAID VESSELAT THE BOTTOM THEREOF, A DEWATERING CHAMBER ADJACENT SAID VESSEL HAVINGAN INLET OPENING IN A WALL THEREOF FORMING THE END OF SAID OUTLETPASSAGE, SAID CHAMBER CONTAINING MEANS FOR MOVING SAID MATERIALTHERETHROUGH AND COMPRESSING THE SAME, INCLUDING AN ELEVATING SCREWMOUNTED FOR ROTA-